spwolf

Yaris worldwide outsells Camry :-).

It is decent car... my bro has one (TS version), and it is nice even now, 6 years after introduction... of course, i expect this new gen coming out in few months to be better in every way.

-J-P-L-

Yup.

Amazing the preference difference between countries. In America, Camry sells 6X the Yaris but everywhere else, Yaris is king.

Kostamojen

I'm interested in seeing the Fiat 500 in person too, since it appears to have a fantastic interior for compact market. (Exterior color matching dash panel FTW!)

mmarshall

Not surprising. The Camry is far more suited to long-distance driving conditions on American Interstate highways than the much smaller, less-comfortable Yaris.

How do the two cars compare in Canada? Canada, like the U.S., is a huge country, also generally more suited to the Camry.

mmarshall

I'm getting ready to do a full-length review on the new 500, not a mini-review like this one. In the meantime, if you want to see one in person, here is Fiat's preliminary list of U.S. dealerships. Some of them, of course, are not yet open.

Hit "Find a Studio"....that's what Fiat calls them, not dealerships.

http://www.fiatusa.com/en/find_a_dealer.html

-J-P-L-

Certainly doesn't get much more comfortable than a Camry, for sure.

Still, my Yaris serves my comfort levels very nicely. I'm 6'1" 240 lbs and was quite comfortable on a 2,100 mile road trip.

Kostamojen

Interesting thing about the Fiat dealer in my area... I know that over a year ago they were talking of building a new building north of the address they have listed on the Fiat site, but it never happened.

The site they have listed is a several year old vacant Mazda dealer, which the last time I drove past was still vacant and fenced off...

However, if you do a search for Fiat dealers in the Sacramento area, it comes up with a dealer in Folsom

Confusing stuff... I need to figure out where the dealer actually is! I want to see one in person for sure.

mmarshall

Yes, Fiat seems to be having trouble getting some of the new shops open. The only one open in my area actually selling cars now is some 40 miles away. A couple more in the D.C. Metro area are planned...one will be just a few miles from my house. It was supposed to open April 1, but still has not.

Some Fiat shops now, though not actually fully-open, have 1-800 numbers and/or websites where Fiat reps and salespeople are taking deposits/orders for new 500s and requests for information. Maybe (?) your local one in Sacramento is operating that way now, until it is fully-opened.

caddyowner

Fiat must not have a lot of sales confidence in Michigan aside from Chrysler employees - 3 studios, all in metro Detroit.

Aside from the Chrysler employee that occasionally drives one in my neighborhood, I saw a red, excuse me Rosso, 500 drive by when we were out for dinner yesterday.

I don't understand why dealers who had barely survived the Chrysler debacle would agree to build dedicated studios for this tepid re-introduction of Fiat to the US. It sounds like a replay of Smart.

rsantiago

Great review MMarshall as always, here in the Philippines taxi cabs love the sedan variant (actually called Toyota Vios here btw it's also the best selling car as well.

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

more power to 'em - japan's market is very different. they have hugely crowded cities, a small country, taxes on car and engine size, and people tend not to have debt like in the u.s. so drive less expensive small cars.

again, in the u.s. people drive more and want roomier, more comfortable cars. plus most americans are fat.

qft.

canadian cities are enormous distances apart, and canadians are highly taxed and more urban, and thus, again, tend to drive smaller, more affortable cars.

spwolf

It has more to do with pricing - in Europe for instance, Camry (Avensis) costs 40k-60k USD.
People simply can not afford bigger cars.

Big Andy

I'd love to sit in a $60K Avensis - it must have gold plated wheels.

I think you need to get a new calculator as you keep quoting way out prices. In the UK, the Avensis range, including sales taxes, starts at $28k and tops out with the T-Spirit with all the toys at $41K. $60K dollars would get you into a good spec IS250C with full leather, a top of the range IS250 is only $50k.

Yes, if you look at some markets, distorted by 100% taxes on new cars, like Denmark, you can come up with some high prices, but not in the major countries like Germany, France, UK.

mmarshall

Thanks.

Not surprising. It's obviously an easy car for cab drivers (and cab companies) to make money with.........cheap to buy, cheap to run, and reliable, although its small size limits the number of passengers you can carry with it.

mmarshall

Some countries also specifically tax size and HP....over and above the other normal taxes that all car buyers pay.

The Avensis is also significantly smaller than the U.S.-market Camry. Here in America, the closest thing we get to the Avensis is the Lexus HS250 hybrid....a 35-40K vehicle.